Canada is targeting Indigenous rights under the banner of the U.S. trade war

Deer explains Indigenous groups’ growing opposition by drawing a comparison. For many Indigenous people, he says, Canada treats their lands and resources the same way Donald Trump threatened Canada during the U.S. trade war.

“The threat that Donald Trump poses to Canada, calling it the U.S.’ 51st state, threatening to take over its resources, is what we’ve been feeling for a long time from Canada,” he said.

“They can’t trust the treaties they made with the United States, and they worry about their land and resources. That’s how we feel about Canada, because they want to take our land and natural resources.”

“C-5 is problematic because it is saying what is good for the federal government is good for everyone, Indigenous and non-Indigenous,” he says. “But it’s never been like that, when you look at a systemic inequality that exists in our country and analyze it historically.”